It’s always fun to know which parts of the book were the author’s favorites. Here are hers, and mine, for Six Degrees of Lost.

From Linda Benson:

I’m going to tell you these, but I haven’t posted the actual lines, because I hate to give some things away. I like the reader to be surprised when they get to these spots.

1) The scene where Olive tells David how she got her name, and then how her brother Pendleton got his name.

2) The phone calls between Olive and her brother Pendleton, who is in basic training in the Army. These conversations are filled with so much emotion, and also so much back-story, where the reader finds out what their previous life was actually like.

3) The scene toward the end of the book, when David has to make the choice between doing what his family expects of him (meet with the senator) or what he really thinks is right. I love his dilemma, and his choice.

And from Linda Ulleseit:

One of my favorite parts is the stray yellow dog. As I read this book, my own yellow pups slept at my feet. My heart went out to the stray, and I enjoyed glimpsing him throughout the book.

Another favorite part is when David and his friends raft down the river and get caught in the rain. Benson’s descriptive narrative is so good that I felt like I was there on the river with them.

Finally, I like Aunt Trudy’s neighborly concept of six degrees of separation, and Olive’s resistance of the idea that leads to the name of the book.